Professional Growth
Oxford Brookes University (Gipsy Lane Campus)
Evaluation of MSW Primary Care Internship: A Mixed-methods Look at the First Year View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ananda Rosa, Kimberly Stauss, La Shawnda Fields
The University of Arkansas School of Social Work was selected as one of three universities to receive funds to develop MSW internships in primary care settings. Although the award was provided in 2021, the school decided to spend the first year creating an individualized program curriculum, developing internship sites, and selecting students. The uniqueness of this internship was the emphasis placed on supporting students who represent the Northwest Arkansas Community, which includes a large number of Spanish-speaking individuals and a significant Pacific Islander population. This focus is due to the recognized need in these underrepresented communities, which is particularly stark in the medical and mental health professions. Through primary care internship opportunities, the School of Social Work hopes to train and build a network of social workers, who represent the community's needs. A qualitative study completed the first semester is presented. This includes strategies, challenges, and successes during on-boarding and embedding social workers in this unique environment. Social work students have the potential to become leaders in the field of primary care and can provide the needed supervision to future social work practitioners and social work students. One of the primary goals of the evaluation of this program would be a commitment by the clinics to create permanent social work positions. It is our hope that an evaluation of the first year of the program would provide the evidence that social workers are a vital component of the health care team in primary care settings.
Intergenerational Relationships and Eldercare Preparation amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Digital Literacy
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Xue Bai
Rapid ageing trend spotlights the need for more eldercare. Care preparation as a form of proactive coping can mitigate the negative effects of potential eldercare needs. Acquisition and preservation of resources are essential for effective proactive coping. The roles of digital literacy and intergenerational relationships as two significant resources on older people’s care preparation are still understudied. Integrating social convoy theory, intergenerational solidarity theory and proactive coping theory, this study compared the levels of digital literacy, intergenerational relationships and care preparation in son-dominant, daughter-dominant, and daughter and son-balance families; and examined the direct and indirect effects of digital literacy on care preparation through intergenerational relationships. Data of 3,626 participants with at least one adult child were drawn from the Panel Study of Active Ageing and Society, designed to be a biennial study conducted with a representative sample of people older than 50 years in Hong Kong. ANOVA was used to compare scores of key variables in three types of families. PROCESS was used to examine the mediation effects. Results showed that digital literacy directs and indirectly influence care preparation through intergenerational relationships for ageing parents. The findings implicate the need to enhance older people’s digital literacy and foster their intergenerational relationships, thereby assisting them to be well-prepared for care needs in later life.
Exploring the Application of Project-based Service Learning Courses in Medical Education: Trials of Curriculum Designs during the Pandemic
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shih Chieh Liao, Yueh Nu Hung
This study investigates the potential benefits of project-based service-learning courses for medical students, focusing on impact on learning motivation and achievement. Additionally, the study also explores the ideal curriculum design for such courses. First-year medical students were enrolled in a mandatory one-credit service-learning course that provided professional service to the neighboring community. The students were divided into 12 groups, each assigned a different service-learning project such as public education on special diseases or raising health awareness. Following the completion of their projects, a questionnaire was distributed to the 135 students, and a total of 122 (90.3%) valid responses were collected. The results indicate that most students believe their projects were helpful (94.3%) and did not cause inconvenience to their service recipients (85.2%). Furthermore, a significant proportion of students (91.8%) agreed that various teaching techniques employed in the courses, such as discussions and project formulation, enhanced the effectiveness of their learning. However, fewer (74.6%) considered sharing experiences with teachers and past students beneficial. Interestingly, compared to those with a neutral or negative opinion, a considerably higher number of students agreed that the inclusion of incentives like prize money or funding for outcomes, as well as the involvement of professional teachers, significantly improved the effectiveness of their learning experiences (all p ≤0.01). Based on these findings, the study concluded that the results could inform educators and institutions seeking to enhance instructional effectiveness and learning motivation within project-based service-learning courses in medical schools.
Developing Professional Competence through Interdisciplinary Learning as Teaching Pedagogy : Starting Interprofessional Collaboration from Interdisciplinary Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kit Ting Leung
An interprofessional and interdisciplinary learning as teaching pedagogy and program design provides quality professional training and education to social workers and helping professionals in Hong Kong. Division of Continuing Professional Education at the Department of Social Work, the Chinese University of Hong Kong acknowledges the complexity and complication of human condition that requires the inter-professional intervention and inter-sectoral collaboration. A series of training programmes is developed to offer interdisciplinary teaching and learning to the social workers and helping professionals who work with young children and their families in pre-primary and primary institutions in Hong Kong. An interdisciplinary teaching team with physician, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, lawyer, social worker, and university teaching professionals is formed at the programme. It not only co-creates a constructive-ecological framework in working with young children and families, but it also enhances the inter-sectoral collaboration in child protection, provision, and participation. It strengthens a team approach in achieving the best interest of children in multi-disciplinary settings. Mixed strategies including the training evaluation, students’ consultation and interdisciplinary teaching team meetings are utilized to (1) evaluate the interdisciplinary teaching and learning of the training programme, (2) understand the learning experience of the participants, and (3) explore the teaching experience of the interdisciplinary team members. The results show that interdisciplinary training could enhance the participants’ cross-disciplines knowledge and skillsets. The learning experience of the participants is constructive with recognition of professional identity and appreciation of self as team member. Interdisciplinary teaching supports professional exchange amongst different disciplines in an education platform.
